Ideals, American, in Commerce, Finance and Morals.....Silas McBee 208 Maryland Charter, The, and the Early Explorations of that Province Nathaniel Ward (See The First American Satirist). 309 Daniel Myron Greene 228 Negroes and the Negro Problem, the, Jefferson Davis North Italian Painters of the Renaissance, the.. Novel, A Nietzschean, "Together,". Painters, The North Italian, of the Renaissance.... Panic, What Caused the.... Pastoral Drama, The, in the Eighteenth Pleasure as the Highest Good....... W. H. Allen 85 Century....Jeannette Marks 202 Political Science in Southern Universities.... Reform of Wayward Youth.... Religion and Medicine.. Religion and Medicine.. Rhythm in Prose.... 42 Arthur R. Gray 355 . Robert A. Holland 360 Rite of Feet Washing, The Religious and Hospitable Walter L. Fleming 1 School as the Exponent of Democracy in the South, The. S. C. Mitchell 18 Shakespeare in Recent Years-I. His Relation to His Predecessors 62 Southern States, Compulsory Education and the.....George F. Milton 25 Southern States, Compulsory Education and the... William H. Hand 298 Southern States, Compulsory Education and the.... Erwin Craighead 306 Southern Universities, Political Science in..... ... ... ... .... David Y. Thomas 466 Spain, Three Books on (Some Recent Books on Art)... George B. Rose 428 Traces of Classical Style in Poetry of the Early Seventeenth Century THE ORIGINAL ORIENTAL CUSTOM One of the least known religious customs of the present day is that of "feet washing," in commemoration of the washing of the disciples' feet by Christ on the occasion of the Last Supper. It is quite a common custom in the backwoods parts of the South, among the descendants of the early German immigrants in the Middle West, and in the Catholic Church. It was formerly a general practice in the Christian Church; now it is confined to the most primitive of Protestant sects and to ceremonial occasions among the Catholics. We must go far back of the time of Christ to find the origin of ceremonial feet washing. It was, we find, an old Oriental custom, common among all peoples of the arid countries of Asia and Africa. Numerous references are found in the sacred books, especially in the Bible. Outside of the Orient it was practised by the early Greeks, and Homer described it. In the beginning it was simply an ablution, that is, a sanitary and cleanly practice. But after the manner of the Orient, most health laws became religious laws, and thus the practice of feet washing acquired a religious significance. In the hot climate of the East frequent baths were not only a luxury, but a necessity, especially to a traveller after the dusty journey of the day; hence water, the supply of which was often limited, was of vast importance and the sanitary ablution was exalted into the religious ceremony of purification. Consequently we find that ablution as a symbol of purification is frequently mentioned throughout the Bible. There were several forms of religious ablution - the complete bath, the washing of head and hands, and feet washing. The high priest of the Jews took the ceremonial bath when he was inaugurated, and also on the Day of Atonement before each act of propitiation. Always the Jewish priests bathed the hands and feet before officiating at the Altar. Like other ceremonial customs, that of ablution gradually became more and more complex, until before the time of Christ, the Pharisees had developed it into a meaningless ritual of washings, so complicated that only a very careful person could go through it properly. Several times, directly and indirectly, Christ rebuked this useless formalism. The ceremonial practice of feet washing had another meaning that is, it might also be an act of friendship and hospitality; as such, it is common throughout the East to this day. The Oriental sandals allowed the feet to become soiled and chafed, and a traveller upon entering the house or a tent loosed them, not only for his own comfort, but also as an act of courtesy toward the house. It was then the duty of the host to offer water for the bathing of hands and feet, or if desiring to be very hospitable he would order a servant or a son to loose the sandals and wash the feet of the guest. Such a service was usually assigned to a slave; if performed by the son it was a high compliment to the guest; if by the host it was the highest possible mark of respect. The Old Testament affords several illustrations of this rite of hospitality and respect. For instance, when Abraham saw the three angels in the garb of travellers, he ran to meet them, bowed down, and invited them within, saying: "Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet and rest under this tree." Similarly Lot invited the wayfaring angels: “Turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry and wash your feet." Even the servant of Abraham, out searching for a wife for Isaac, was invited into the house by Laban, who gave him "water to wash his feet and the men's feet that were with him." And when Abigail received the messengers of David, who sent her a command to come and be his wife, she expressed her appreciation by bowing herself on her face to the earth and saying: "Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servant of my Lord.” This ceremony of hospitality had several shades of meaning. The voluntary performance of such a duty for another signified great affection, humility and respect. Generally, however, while the custom was one of hospitality, to perform it by order, as a servant would, was considered degrading, and the degradation extended not only to the doer of the service but to the vessel used. This is shown in David's boasting speech, "Moab is my wash pot; over Edom will I cast my shoe." DURING THE TIME OF CHRIST Before the Christian Era these ceremonies had lost much of their old significance. On this account Christ and his disciples did not conform to the strict customs of the Pharisees in regard to ablutions, and were criticised for not doing so. Their neglect indicated disapproval of those complicated customs which no longer had any practical or religious significance. However, in the life of Christ the rite of feet washing to teach humility and show affection several times occurs. Once when he was at meat in the house of Simon the Pharisee, a woman "which was a sinner," came and "stood at his feet behind him" as he reclined on the couch in Oriental fashion, bathed his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair and then anointed them. At the house of Simon the leper, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointed his feet and wiped them with her hair. The use of ointment after bathing the chafed feet of a person was especially pleasant, and was a mark of devoted and humble affection. Christ's disapproval of the minute and lifeless observances of the Pharisees was shown in many ways. Especially was it evident in the scene at the Last Supper on the Fourteenth Nisan, when he washed the feet of his disciples. Already he had been blamed for omitting some of the ceremonial ablutions before meals; now he arises during the meal, and bathes the feet of his followers, thus breaking with the Pharisaic custom in another way. But the prime significance of the act was in a different direction. It was a lesson in humility to the disciples who did not |